Can football ‘distract’ Kyrgyz security chief from rumoured presidential plans? 

The powerful Kyrgyz security chief has been elected president of the national football union.  

According to Kamchybek Tashiyev himself, it was President Sadyr Japarov who asked him to “help out” with developing national football. 

By putting Tashiyev in charge of football, a sport he is very passionate about, Japarov could be trying to divert the former’s attention from his rumoured plans to bid for the presidency. 

Tashiyev was elected president of the Kyrgyz Football Union on Monday, unanimously and “in strict compliance” with the organisation’s charter, the Union said on its website. 

“Our president Sadyr Japarov asked me to head the Football Union and I could not refuse to help out,” he told journalists after his election.  

“I do not have much time, I understand. I have a lot of other things to do. Nonetheless, development of football is close to my heart. I love football.”  

Tashiyev said he had been playing football “from a young age”, and his two elder sons started playing when they were kids but “failed” to become professional players. 

Tashiyev’s third son, who is 18, has been training and playing football in Europe for the past five years. 

“My youngest daughter, who is nine, is a football player too. She trains in Spain. I hope she can continue her football career. 

“Our family is fully involved in football,” Tashiyev said in remarks carried by the official Kabar news agency. 

Longtime close associates, Japarov and Tashiyev came to power amid the 2020 mass protests sparked by disputed parliamentary election results. 

Their government, specifically the Tashiyev-led security service, has been in recent months clamping down on everyone with real or perceived political and financial influence (opposition politicians, wealthy businesspeople, and organised crime), and independent media – in a sign they are preparing the ground for the next presidential election. 

Japarov assumed office in January 2021 after being elected for a single six-year term. In April 2021 he pushed through constitutional changes that made him potentially eligible to serve another two five-year terms. 

Apart from leading the crackdown on opponents, Security Chief Tashiyev has also invested significantly in beefing up the security service.  

More assertive than Japarov, Tashiyev is seen as the former’s main potential rival in the next presidential campaign.   

The Kyrgyz Football Union’s entire previous leadership resigned after the national team finished in fourth and last place in its group at the recent Asia Cup held in Qatar. 

Tashiyev said the national team’s performance in Qatar showed “the current state of our football”. 

He pledged to turn things around and make Kyrgyzstan “a football nation” within two years, according to remarks carried by the official Kabar news agency. 

He said his priorities would be to improve the infrastructure, boost junior football and raise the level of the national championship. 

Sports centres will be refurbished and football pitches will be built in all towns and districts, and “football academies will be opened all over the country”, Tashiyev promised. 

«We are going to be a football nation. Everyone, young and old, will play football – we shall create conditions for that,” he added. 

Tashiyev said he intended to assess the country’s football coaches and introduce a new selection system for the national team, so that it is made up of “the best and most loyal” players. 

He also pledged to complete construction of a world-class football stadium with a capacity of 40,000 spectators in the village of Orok near Bishkek within two years. 

Tashiyev said he wanted “a breakthrough” in both Kyrgyz male and female football. 

“Football is a mark of prestige. We are behind all our neighbours. We need to take measures,” the security chief said. 

Tashiyev is facing a massive task in his new role.  

But the main question is: can his passion for football outweigh his political ambitions?  

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